Eastpointe murder victim's mom reserving judgment

The mother of an Eastpointe woman allegedly murdered by her husband says she has withheld her judgment on whether her ex-son-in-law is guilty.

“I’m going to wait for the justice system to run its course,” Evelyn Marks said Friday following a pretrial for Anthony Webster, 46, in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.

Webster is accused of shooting Christina Lazzana-Webster in the chest in the bedroom of their David Street home on Jan. 25.

Lazzana-Webster, 33, and Webster owned Big Top Popcorn at Nine Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue, minutes from their home.

Her mother said she misses her desperately.

“She was my only child, my dear child,” she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “It’s been extremely tough. It’s hard to breathe.”

Lazzana-Webster left two children, 10 and 18.

“They’re trying to adjust to life without their mom,” she said. “They’re being well taken care of.”

Melonie Bates, representing Webster in court Friday, told Judge Peter J. Maceroni the lead defense attorney, Randall Upshaw, plans to file a motion to “modify” Webster’s bond, currently at $300,000 cash or surety. It was reduced from $500,000 on Aug. 29. If released, he would have to surrender his passport and be confined by tether to his home and business.

Upshaw could not be immediately reached for comment following the hearing.

He argued at Webster’s preliminary examination in March that his client could not have been at the home at the time of the shooting and that the case is highly circumstantial.

Assistant Macomb Prosecutor William Cataldo said the there is a high volume of circumstantial evidence pointing to Webster as the killer.

Webster and Lazzana-Webster often fought and argued, and that she planned to leave him, a friend of hers testified at the prior hearing.